"UMass will also enter Saturday’s game with confidence after winning its last two games, giving Mullen and the Bulldogs greater reason to remain focused.“They’ve won two in a row,” Mullen said. “They always play tough.”

The Clarion Ledger looks at Mississippi State after their latest win (scroll down a bit till they get to some stuff on the UMass game). Note the Bulldogs get Alabama the week after UMass, so they might be looking ahead, just a bit.

Can the readership help be out with a couple of questions? I didn't understand a couple of plays from Saturday's game.

On the play where the Appalachian State kick returner muffed the catch and then ended batting the ball out of the rear of the endzone----why was that not a safety? He touched the ball in the field of play. Is possession required in order for it to be a safety?

Then on the Ross Comis late hit. I thought once the play stepped out of bounds, the play was over and so the late hit was a dead ball foul. Then after that there were multiple fouls in the scrum resulting from the late hit. The officials initially said the foul on Comis would be enforced, but then offset everything. I though UMass should have had the ball 15 yards from where the late hit occurred and then offsets on both sides. ..

Sunday, October 29, 2017

The Minutemen set a lot "bests" in their win over Appalachian State, IMHO.

Best defensive performance in FBS era. Yes, the wins UMass achieved so far have been mostly defensive grinds, but yesterday's performance was superb. The defense has two INT's. Two forced fumbles and 8 TFL. The Minutemen deserved to win on the defensive effort alone.

Best kicking performance in the FBS era. Logan Laurant went 3 for 3 including a 45-yarder with five seconds left to tie the game. He then kicked a 36 yard FG for the first game-wining kick in memory. He had a career day. Take a bow, Logan!

Best single offensive drive of the FBS era. With a minute fifty seconds left, Comis led the offense 53 yards to set up the game-saving field goal.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

All right. UMass plays a very good Sun Belt team today. All the pundits picked the Mountaineers as the Sun Belt champion during the preseason. Seven games into 2017, Appalachian State is getting it done, tied for the conference lead at 5-2 overall and 4-0 in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers are 2nd in total defense and 2nd in scoring defense. They lead the Sun Belt in sacks and 4th down conversions. They average 418.6 yards of offense. Appalachian State is a well rounded team. They can run and they can pass. They have a solid defense.

UMass has scored 105 points in the last two games. We need to score points today. The Minutemen will probably need to score in the high 30's to win. I think we can do that. There will be much less of a margin for error against a good team like the Appalachian State. Let's put it together and get our second win.

Boston College ran over Florida State last night 35-7. I think BC freshman AJ Dillon is one of the top backs in the country. Too bad UMass could not have landed him. I know we recruited Dillon; he would have changed the program at UMass.

The Mountaineers return six starters on offense and six on defense from a team that went 10-3 including a 31-28 victory over Toledo in the Camellia Bowl.

RB Jalen Moore is a three-time Sun Belt offensive player-of-the-week he runs behind an OL that had three members first-team All-Sun Belt. QB Taylor Lamb has been setting program records in 2017. Most pundits had Appalachian State as the preseason Sun Belt Champion. They are currently tied for the conference lead with Arkansas State. As several blog commenters have pointed out App State's wins have come against less than stellar opposition. They lost to Georgia 10-31 and lost to Wake Forest by one point 19-20.

Still, Appalachian State is night and day compared to Georgia Southern. This will probably be a shoot out. We need to keep our DB's in the game and not get injured. UMass needs Lee Moses, Isaiah Rogers and Jesse Monteiro in the game, not on the sidelines. I think the Minutemen will score in the thirties. Can we keep the Mountaineers to a lesser score? So far in the second Whipple Era we have been in a number of high scoring games, but have yet to win one.

Kinda tough to fire a coach after 1.5 seasons, although GSU seemed to have multiple problems. During what little of the game NESN broadcast, the announcers said at one point GSU had players ejected for targeting for six consecutive games. That speaks to an undisciplined club.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

The UMass fans at the game--- including me, stood and clapped at the end of a cathartic win over Georgia Southern. It was not a grind-it-out 27-24 win that I had hoped for. UMass broke out. The Minutemen set offensive records. We had the biggest win margin of the FBS era. We forced defensive turnovers. There have been a lot of long somber drives back to New Hampshire in the Blog household. Last night there was joy for all UMass fans. Enjoy it. Minutemen fans earned it as much as the team did.

UMass had 320 yards rushing with a 7.3 yards a carry. The defense held GSU to 3.3 yards a carry.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Well, today is the "Battle for the Bottom". The Minutemen have already lost to one dreadful team--Coastal Carolina. Losing to Georgia Southern would certainly cement our status as #130 on FBS.

UMass can win this game. We need to score points and not miss scoring opportunities. With Georgia Southern's clock control offense, the Minutemen won't get a lot of chances. The defense needs to stop big plays. No blown assignments. No wide receivers open by 20 yards.

If we win, UMass can get some momentum for the second half of the season. It's going to be a beautiful day weather-wise. I'll be there cheering for our side. Hope you will be too.

Friday, October 20, 2017

The Eagles return three starters on offense and four on defense from last year's 5-7 team. The Eagles have been having a terrible year. They run the triple option and have only been averaging 3.9 yards/carry. GSU has been averaging 17.60 points/game and giving up 38.60.

One thing the Eagles do well is control the clock. They average about eight minutes more possession time than their opponents. UMass cannot have many three-and-outs as we won't get the ball back.

On September 9th, New Hampshire beat GSU 22-12. UNH scored 15 points in the first quarter and led the entire way. GSU did hold UNH scoreless in the second half.

I would feel better about this matchup if we had not played so poorly against Coastal Carolina. UMass gave up 6.8 yards/carry against a very weak option team. We can't do that against Georgia Southern. The Eagles are built to control the clock. They are not built to come back when behind. The UMass offense needs to score early and often. With GSU's starting QB Shai Werts questionable for the game, the Eagles may show some new looks.

I dunno if this is good news for UMass or not. The Eagles offense has been terrible with Werts. Their passing game is heaving the ball down the field and hoping the defense will be caught cheating up to stop the option or a pass interference call.

I watched the Mississippi State-BYU game on the SEC network yesterday. The Bulldogs looked like the real deal as they manhandled BYU. Mississippi State had a power running game (306 yards rushing) and added 240 more in passing. The Bulldog defense held BYU to eight first downs and 176 total yards. UMass is going to have their hands full in Starksville.

Sunday, October 15, 2017

I watched about half the game on ESPN3. The Eagles looked neither fast nor talented. In addition GSU had two of their defensive players ejected for targeting, including their leading tackler. I believe that means they will not be available for the first half against UMass.

I forgot to report on FIU when I listed the UMass opponent's scores yesterday. The Panthers lost at Middle Tennessee 37-17. That brings FIU to 1-1 in C-USA. If the Panthers make the conference championship game, the December 2nd game against UMass is canceled.

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